240 A BOTANICAL SCRAMBI.K. 



Stopping then at Wythburnj and after a good night's rest, for we got in 

 late, we get up just to see if the sun has been before us, and find that he 

 has long since cast his morning beams into the lake, and that we have been 

 dreaming away the best part of the morning. However an early breakfast, 

 and off at half-past seven to Danraail Raise, and caring little whether that 

 mighty monarch sleep there or elsewhere, we take a walk or rather a climb 

 up the Ghyll, passing first over 



"That pile of stones, 



Heaped over brave King Dunmail's bones; 

 He who once held supreme command, 

 Last king of rocky Cumberland." 



It was about the middle of the hot month of July, and on one of the 

 warmest days in it, when, plaid over arm, for we frequently have pelting 

 showers here when least expected, we got over the first dozen large stones 

 which lie not only by the side of the stream, but which disturb its very 

 bosom, and cause the smooth water to dash into many hundred little cataracts, 

 Saxifraga aizoides, was the first plant whose appearance attracted notice, and 

 certainly from the plentitude of its bright yellow flowers and shining linear 

 leaves, it does deserve a corner in our vasculum, notwithstanding its abundance ■ 

 in every moist place in the district. Seclum anglicum inhabits rather drier 

 places among the loose stony soil, about the foot of the hill; those who do 

 not know the plant will have a pretty good idea of it if they suppose 

 the Common Stone Cress, {Sedum acre,) with white instead of yellow flowers, 

 and withal of a duskier hue, and less luxuriant in growth. 



Further up the steep Ghyll Saxifraga stellaris, with its wedge-shaped leaves, 

 star-like flowers, and spotted with yellow, grew among damp moss, under 

 the spray of the water; here also the rarer Saxifraga hypwAdes found space 

 and enriched my collection. Toiling still on in the warm sunshine, over 

 hui^e masses of rock, I came upon the Kidney-leaved or Mountain Sorrel, 

 {Oxyria reniformis;) this is by no means a common plant, though I have 

 met with it before in the neighbourhood of Keswick, at Ashness Ghyll. It 

 grows from one to two feet high, with very fleshy leaves of a kidney shape, 

 and has a spike of flowers very much resembling the Sorrel, which induced 

 the earlier observers to call it a Rumex. 



Among the grass, which consists in a great measure of Fesluca ovina, 

 was found the Common Club Moss, {Lycopodium clavatum,) in fine fruit; 

 The Fij-club Moss, (L. selago,) was quite as plentiful, as also the L. alpinum. 

 L. selaginoides was less abundant, but in the marshy ground about eight 

 hundred feet up the hill, a plentiful supply might have been obtained. 

 Carex pulicaris, (Flea Sedge,) grew among tufts of damp grass, and Forget- 

 me-nots of different species, including Myosotis repens, ccespitosa, and palustris, 

 and numberless forms of each, occurred from the ditch at the foot of the hill 

 to the point of my ambition for the day, namely, Grisedale Tarn. This is 

 one of the largest Tarns in the district, and is surrounded by hills on every 



